Month: July 2023

CoinsPaid targeted in $37.3 million hack

An official update on July 26 reveals that CoinsPaid, an Estonia-based crypto payment provider, was hacked and lost $37.3 million on July 22.  CoinsPaid is pointing fingers at the Lazarus Group, a notorious hacker organization known for targeting high-profile companies in the past. The hacker group, believed to be sponsored by North Korea, has been accused of hacking and stealing from several crypto firms and bridges, including CoinCheck and Ronin. Following the breach, CoinsPaid’s said they swiftly fortified their systems to prevent further damage. For their action, the payment processor said customer…

Sam Bankman-Fried to have campaign donation charge dropped: Prosecutors

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United States prosecutors have signaled they will drop a charge against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, which had alleged he conspired to make unlawful campaign contributions. In a July 26 letter to District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the government was informed by The Bahamas that it did not agree to extradite Bankman-Fried on the charge and prosecutors would not carry it forward to trial. “The Bahamas did not intend to extradite the defendant on the campaign contributions count,” Williams wrote in the letter. “In keeping with…

Crypto payment gateway CoinsPaid suspects Lazarus Group in $37M hack

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Cryptocurrency payments platform CoinsPaid has pointed the finger at North Korean state-backed Lazarus Group as being behind the hacking of its internal systems, which allowed them to steal $37.3 million on July 22. “We suspect Lazarus Group, one of the most powerful hacker organisations, is responsible,” CoinsPaid explained in a July 26 post. While CoinsPaid didn’t explain how the money was stolen exactly, the incident forced the firm to halt operations for four days. CoinsPaid is back to processing after being hit by a hacker attack. Сlient’s funds were not…

Crypto bills pass congressional committee in ‘huge win’ for US crypto

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A key United States House panel has approved a pair of bills that could finally deliver some regulatory clarity to crypto firms — including clarifying the differences in jurisdiction between the US securities and commodities regulators. On July 26, the majority of U.S. lawmakers voted in favor of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act as well as the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. The House Financial Services Committee approved the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act in a 35-15 vote which would establish rules for…

FOMC Delivers Expected 0.25% Rate Hike, Bitcoin Holds Steady Above $29,000

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The Federal Reserve’s (Fed) decision to raise the Federal Funds Rate (FFR) by 25 basis points to 5.50%, the highest level since February 2021, had little impact on the cryptocurrency market and Bitcoin (BTC), with the event described as “very vanilla” by the Journalist Ted Talks Macro.  The FOMC indicated that achieving its 2% inflation target still has a long way to go and that it will take a data-dependent approach to future rate hikes. While some investors had been hoping for a more hawkish tone from the Fed, the…

Bitcoin Pre-Halving Patterns Suggest Bull Market Is Not Starting In 2023

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The Bitcoin halving is arguably the most important event for the blockchain due to its function. As such, it has played a significant role in when the crypto bull market starts and how long it lasts in most cases. Although there have been slight deviations in how it triggers each bull market, pre-halving data over the years suggests that it keeps to quite a tight schedule. Bitcoin Maintaining Historical Trend While most of the year has seen Bitcoin deviate from many historical trends, leading to speculation that the next bull…

Reality Labs losses top $7.7B year to date

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Meta’s metaverse-related losses topped $3.74 billion over the second quarter with the Big Tech player spending $7.7 billion on its virtual reality business so far in 2023. Its second-quarter results released on July 26 saw Meta report an 11% revenue gain compared to the previous year, totaling $31.9 billion. Its metaverse-focused Reality Labs revenue topped $276 million. Reality Labs’ operating losses are set to increase through 2023, Meta said. It cited product development efforts in virtual reality and further investments in to its metaverse as the reason for the losses extending. In…